World's first space crew flies riskiest mission ever!

On October 12, 1964, the USSR continued its pioneering conquest of space orbiting the first multi-member crew onboard the Voskhod ("sunrise") spacecraft. This achievement was made even more sensational by the fact that three cosmonauts blasted into space after only single-pilot missions. However unknown to the world was the unfathomable risk taken by the cosmonauts. Without any viable emergency rescue at liftoff and without spacesuits, the trio faced certain death in case of even a small air leak, let alone a launch failure.

Above: The de-facto founder of the Soviet space program Sergei Korolev (left) and the crew of Voskhod: Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris Yegorov on the launch pad in Tyuratam before their launch. Credit: RKK Energia

BIG STORY OF VOSKHOD MISSION

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If the founder of the Soviet space program Sergei Korolev had had his way, the triumphant mission of Valentina Tereshkova in June 1963, would not have ended launches of the one-seat Vostok spacecraft. Almost a year earlier, plans had been made to launch at least four more Vostok missions aimed to demonstrate to the skeptical Soviet military that manned spacecraft could be more than just a propaganda tool.

At the beginning of 1964, a new plan had emerged to quickly modify the Vostok spacecraft for a series of space firsts: the first multi-member crew and the first spacewalk. According to a popular legend, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev put forward the idea of sending a three-man crew into space after he had learned about US plans to introduce a two-seat Gemini spacecraft and a three-seat Apollo.

To squeeze three cosmonauts into a one-man Vostok, spacesuits would have to be left behind. Moreover, for the first time, the crew would fly without ejection seats and touch down inside its capsule.To address the problem of Vostok's hard landing, the number of its parachutes was increased from one to two and a small cluster of solid rockets was attached to parachute strings.

The initial concept of the three-seat Voskhod called for keeping the mass of the spacecraft unchanged, however the actual ship gained weight, reaching 5.7 tons. To launch the heavier payload, its rocket was equipped with a new more powerful upper stage.

During the mission, the crew was assigned a number of experiments, including the study of fluid behavior in weightlessness, star-tracking tests, photo and video documentation. Naturally, a doctor on the crew planned to conduct medical studies.

With the multi-seat spacecraft, Korolev got his foot in the door of the Air Force monopoly over the cosmonaut selection. Yet, the Air Force demanded that a military engineer and a military doctor fill two available seats. Obviously, such a shameless and completely unfounded usurpation of the prestigious field of manned space flight outraged the civilian industry, which had made the whole thing possible.

The full dress-rehearsal of the Voskhod mission started with a launch on Oct. 6, 1964, at 10:00 Moscow Decree Time, as Korolev watched. After reaching the orbit, the spacecraft was publicly announced as Kosmos-47, obviously, without any clues about its significance for the manned space program.

After a 24-hour orbital Russian roulette, the Voskhod trio successfully landed totally unaware that the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev who had phoned them onboard just hours earlier had now disappeared and been replaced by Leonid Brezhnev after a Kremlin coup ending a crucial era in Russian history.